Bangalore:Karnataka, whose capital Bangalore is a major attraction of education across India particularly engineering and medical courses, is to get 13 more private universities, taking the total to 15.

Once these universities are set up, Karnataka will be the third state, along with Himachal Pradesh, in the country which will have 15 universities in the private sector.

Rajasthan has the highest number of private universities at 33. According to the data with the Universities Grants Commission, the central organisation that supervises university education in the country.

Uttar Pradesh is placed at second position with 18 such universities while Gujarat with 13 is the other state which has more than 10 private universities.

A row, however,has broken with the opposition Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) claiming that a huge kickback around Rs.100 crore changed hands to allow these 13 universities in the private sector to come up.

The state's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government and the people setting up the private universities have not reacted to this allegation.

Two major students' organisations,the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh's student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist's Students Federation of India (SFI), are also opposing universities coming up in the private sector and have threatened agitation.(Agencies)